Thanks for all the info guys. That post had made me a little nervous. Before I read I had been ignorant about possible death while training in art that hopefully extends your life should one ever be attacked.. I don't know why when I was in karate, that I never thought about the possibilty of my attacking partner killing me.. Seeing as we were punching and kicking at vital areas of the body it probably could have happened. Sensei always stressed being careful and having control so that you wouldn't injure (or be injured) anyone. Never said anything about dying though. If anyone was careless or started horsing around it was push-ups, push-ups, push-ups. Needless to say very few people ever horsed around and never did it twice. Push-ups were pretty much the standard punishment in karate. Is it same in all martial arts? And we always did them in warm ups. All my senseis seemed to love making you do them. Good thing I don't mind them too much Not because I got punished alot. Only ever happened twice. Once for talking during class when we were supposed to be watching sensei and once for forgetting to remind sensei about papers he wanted handed out. I never did talk at the wrong time again. By the way I have been looking at different aikido web sights trying to get info on it and I have two other questions. What is shikko and what is nikkyo? Did I spell those right? Both seem to be something students don't like practising but I couldn't find out what they were.